Close-ups
Framed and on the wall
Frame and rooms are illustrations of how the print could look; the description says what is included.
Buy a Bill of the Play, Theatre Drury Lane, Cries of London, 1804
€345
$385 · £290
Original print, not a reproduction.
Ships worldwide from the Netherlands, flat, insured and tracked. 14-day returns.
- Date
- 1804
- Technique
- Copper Engraving
- Coloring
- Hand colored
- Condition
- Good. Light wear to the bottom right corner. Age toning, darker at the edges; handling soiling along the edges and scattered foxing in the margins. Faint show-through of text from the reverse. Small light flecks in the image, otherwise clean.
- Wardrobe
- Folk finery
- Era
- 1790 to 1840, Empire and Romantic
- Stock no.
- BG-12935-29
What the condition grades mean
- Excellent
- Bright and clean, with no faults worth mentioning.
- Very good
- Only light signs of age, such as faint toning.
- Good
- Normal signs of age for a sheet of this period: toning, some foxing, small marks or neat old repairs.
- Fair
- Clear faults such as staining, tears or repairs, priced to match.
Every fault we see is written in the condition note, and the whole sheet is shown uncropped in the photos.
An original antique hand colored copper engraving of a London street seller, lettered "BUY A BILL OF THE PLAY." below the image and "Theatre Drury Lane" in script above it. A woman in a black bonnet, pink bodice, white kerchief and apron and a blue skirt holds out a printed playbill lettered "THEATRE ROYAL." and "HAMLET.", a shallow basket of oranges carried before her on a strap. She stands beside a tall column at the theater entrance, with a green paneled door, a fanlight and a lamp behind her.
The location "Theatre Drury Lane" is engraved in script at the top of the plate and the cry "BUY A BILL OF THE PLAY." in open capitals at the bottom. Below the border, the lower left corner carries the artist credit "Craig del" (meaning Craig drew it), and the center carries the imprint "Published Augst. 25 1804 by Richard Phillips 71 St. Pauls Church Yard", dated August 25, 1804. No engraver is named. Playbills and oranges were sold to the audience outside the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane.
Modern London; Being the History and Present State of the British Metropolis was published in London in 1804, printed for Richard Phillips of No. 71, St. Paul's Church-Yard, by C. Mercier and Co., and "illustrated with numerous copper plates." Alongside its views of public buildings it carried a series of plates of the street traders of London, each showing a seller with his or her wares against a recognizable London setting, named in script above the image, with the trader's cry engraved below. William Marshall Craig, credited on the plate as the draftsman, was a London painter in watercolors and miniatures and a drawing master. His designs for the series record the dress, tools and goods of the people who sold in the streets of Georgian London.
It pairs naturally with other plates from the series and would make a lively addition to a wall of London subjects.
Condition: Light wear to the bottom right corner. Age toning, darker at the edges; handling soiling along the edges and scattered foxing in the margins. Faint show-through of text from the reverse. Small light flecks in the image, otherwise clean.
This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed. Any framed or interior images are shown for presentation and inspiration only, unless the listing explicitly states that the item is sold framed.
